Monthly Archives: April 2016

Tonight (Thursday, April 28), UW Political Science professor Kathy Cramer will discuss her book, The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker. In hundreds of person-to-person political conversations in northern and western Wisconsin, Prof. Cramer has come to understand rural resentment towards cities. Her message highlights the role of respectful discourse in politics today.

Voters and democracy enthusiasts: If you haven’t done it yourself, you won’t believe how interesting and fun it can be to count votes. Municipal officials are already doing a fine job with their responsibility to verify that the machines counted the right number of ballots, but our county officials do not verify that the votes were counted accurately before they declare election results final.
We need to show them how rapidly, easily, and transparently verification can be done.

On Saturday, April 30, come to Bethel Lutheran, just off Capitol Square, at 9 AM to participate in the random selection, or stop in anytime (come in the doors on the parking lot side) until 4 PM to count votes until we determine–with 99% confidence level–whether the voting machines identified the correct winners in the primaries or the Supreme Court race. We use a technique recommended by the 2014 President’s Commission on Election Administration called ‘risk-limiting auditing.’ Here’s the results of our verification of the February election: http://bit.ly/1oedCaT

We have to keep the pressure on, because after years of resisting, Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell is starting to budge. He had an experienced poll worker check the results in two precincts following the February elections, but his process has a long way to go before it achieves nationally recognized standards of transparency, validity, reliability, and timeliness. Come help to show them how it’s done!

Comments Off on Citizens’ Election Audit – Saturday – Drop in between 9AM and 4PM

The Progressive Dane Policy Committee is hosting an informal and preliminary discussion about ways that local government can create more progressive policies and give more budget support to address addiction as a public health issue instead of a policing issue. Newly-elected Dane County Supervisor Richard Kilmer, a long-time pharmacist at Community Pharmacy, will be presenting information and solutions to Dane County’s heroin and opioid addition problems. Also expected are Randall Brown MD, UW Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Addictive Disorders, and Jimi Reinke from ARC needle exchange.

Sun Prairie Action Resource Coalition (SPARC) is hosting a gathering on Saturday, April 16 from 12-3 pm at the Westside Community Service Building in Sun Prairie, and all are welcome to attend. The event will feature a special presentation from Matthew Rothschild, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. Matt will speak on “The Assault on Democracy in Wisconsin,” sharing his research and investigations into how money corrupts and influences politics, and what we can do about it at the local level.

Matt Rothschild: “Democracy should not be a game that only the wealthiest people and corporations can play.”

The event is the quarterly get-together of the Progressive Partners of the 2nd Congressional District, a coalition of regional grassroots groups that meets quarterly to share ideas, discuss strategies for working together to promote democracy and strong communities, and to hear special guest speakers on a variety of topics. The event is FREE and open to all. RSVP today!